Moonlit Padawan
by Gaia'schild
Summary: Qui-Gon Jinn walks into the darkened quarters he shares with his padawan and wonders where his padawan is. NOT a love story, though it starts as one. not about Obi-wan, it is a test plot for another padawan that Qui-Jon might have had during the Clone War


This is an idea that has been bouncing around in my head ever since I saw _The Phantom Menace_ and thoroughly believed that Qui-Gon Jinn should not have died. He was totally my favorite character and I really wanted to do something for him. It became more of a reality when the animated _series the Clone Wars _came out that I started to flesh out this story line.

**This is a test plot!** If you like this idea, where the story is coming from, how I kept Qui-Jon alive, where the story might go, just hit the Favorite button or maybe be a dear and hit the Story Alert Button; if you really love me, you'll leave a review.

**Moonlit Padawan**

Qui-Gon Jinn strode down the corridors leading from the Jedi Council's Chamber to the quarters he shared with his padawan. These days, given how many missions the Council sent them on, home seemed to be aboard their star ship, _Dawn_; the name was a joke between himself and his old padawan, Obi-wan. If Obi-wan, Anakin and Anakin's padawan Asoka rode on the _Twilight_, then it made sense for him to ride the_ Dawn_. Dawn came after Twilight, and so did he come after, to clean up the trio's messes and rescue them. It seemed only fitting in his eyes; Rhkyn, his padawan, had rolled her eyes - coming from her that was a full-fledged laugh.

As Qui-Gon moved, he barely acknowledged the few he passed in the hallways. The council had assigned them another mission, a seemingly routine job of escorting diplomats to their home on Seli and he was quickly reviewing the details before he could sleep.

Finally, he came to his door near the tip of the Temple next to one of the Temple's many gardens. It wasn't a room that he would have normally picked, but Rhkyn had come from a jungle planet and after losing her Master he had tried to make her as comfortable as possible. They had had a rough beginning, her hurting after losing a Master who had seemingly abandoned her and him, recovering from a near deadly fight with a Sith and having to regain both his confidence and abilities. What had Yoda been thinking when he paired the tow of them together? But somehow they made a great team, watching each other's backs and picking up the other's slack. 'Yoda,' Qui- Gon mused, 'was crazy but incredibly _smart_.'

Entering their quarters, Qui-Gon was surprised to not see Rhkyn moving about futzing with something, wafting fro his return. In fact, the only light came from his half of the sleeping quarters; not even the light in the main area where the held lessons was on.

"Strange," he murmured out loud, "where could she have gone? Hardly anyone is out at this hour, and certainly the library has been closed for the night."

A noise from where his padawan slept had him moving in that direction without any conscious thought. He should have smacked himself over the head, if he was this tired even this year of practice dealing with sleepless weeks, then Rhkyn must be one of the walking dead.

Rounding the partition that gave them both some privacy, he stopped short at the sight in front of him.

Rhkyn was sitting fast asleep in the deep window that looked over Coruscant. The moonlight streaming in through the window caressed her face and accentuated her high cheek bones and distinctive marking found only amongst her people; the passing speeder caused the Löm beads in her to braids to turn different colors. For a moment, all the trials of the past months seemed to have never happened; her face gone.' Force- did she look young.'

'And uncomfortable,' Qui-Gon chuckled in his head. If she stayed in that position all night, she would be sore all over, and her normally stoic attitude would become marble as she worded through the pain. There really was only one option left to him.

Slowly, Qui-Gon slid one arm under her bent up knees and circled the other to encompass her shoulders. Her people were notoriously light sleepers, so he would have to pick her up as gently, and smoothly, as possible. It was surprisingly easy to lift her up; she had lost weight since the last time he had held her. He vowed then and there to make sure she was eating, and proper food not just protein bars. I t would do neither of them good if she passed out on a mission from hunger of all things. Anakin would never let the two of them live it down.

Luckily Rhkyn was terrible about things neat, so her sheets were already at the bottom of her bed. Laying her down softly, Qui-Gon smiled as his padawan immediately rolled over on her side to face the window. He reached down to the foot of her mattress and pulled up the sheets.

"Master?" murmured a half conscious voice, startling Qui-Gon and forcing him to look at his padawan.

"It's alright." He replied, "go back to sleep." He needn't have worried; she had fallen asleep before he had finished his sentence. As he moved to his side of the room his foot caught on something. A data-pad. It must have fallen from her hand while she was sleeping, making ht noise that had alerted Qui-Gon to her presence. Qui-Gon smiled as he turned off the data-pad completely and gave one last look back at his apprentice. After this mission he would put in a request with the Council to be excused from the mission rotation to continue her padawan training. She would only be young once, and she had seen enough of war.


End file.
